Burns Singer (Burns James Hyman Singer) Biography

Scottish poet, born in New York of Scottish parents; he grew up in Glasgow, where he attended the University. He travelled widely in the late 1940s and sought out W. S. Graham in Cornwall for guidance in the development of his writing. After working as a research assistant in a marine laboratory, he became a highly regarded literary journalist and broadcaster in London. He resumed his work in marine biology shortly before his death. His substantial collection entitled Still and All (1957) included his earlier publications The Gentle Engineer (1952) and Sonnets for a Dying Man (1957). Collected Poems, edited by W. A. S. Keir, and Selected Poems, edited by Anne Cluysenaar, were published in 1970 and 1977 respectively. Singer's scientific training and his studies of philosophy and linguistics influenced the character of much of his poetry. At its best, his work achieves a highly original synthesis of intellectual speculation, imaginative elements, and precise observation. He also wrote Living Silver (1957), a documentary fiction based on his experiences of the fishing industry, which inform numerous poems, and was editor and translator, with Jerzy Peterkiewicz, of Five Centuries of Polish Poetry (1960).